


Commanders and Cats Will Do as They Please, and Subordinates and Dogs Should Relax and Get Used to the Idea

by seke



Category: Gintama
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-18 21:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12396132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seke/pseuds/seke
Summary: The Kiheitai get a cat.





	Commanders and Cats Will Do as They Please, and Subordinates and Dogs Should Relax and Get Used to the Idea

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be posted on the 4th day of Bantaka Week. But I didn't finish day 2 in time, so I'm going to change the order. The prompt I'm using is Kiheitai family.

The first thing Matako Kijima did after opening her eyes was think about how she would spend her day off. The second one was smile.

It was early, so early she couldn’t even see the sun through her bedroom’s window. However, not even the long morning could ruin Matako’s good mood.

She was excited. Even though they didn’t have to work, she could still be with Shinsuke.

Matako got up and put on light clothes as usual. She brushed and tied her hair up while yawning, making sure it looked pretty.

After going to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face, Matako decided to look for the other members of the Kiheitai.

She didn’t find anyone. Everyone was still asleep in their bedrooms. But that was fine. Having a time only for herself wasn’t so bad, too.

The second person to wake up was Bansai, half an hour later. He went to the kitchen, where Matako was drinking tea and joined her.

“Good morning, Bansai-senpai!” Matako greeted him with a smile.

Having just woken up, Bansai served himself a cup of tea and took a sip. Almost as if he felt pain doing so, he talked to Matako.

“Morning.”

He didn’t look so happy—not that Matako could blame him for being moody in the morning—so she didn’t say anything else.

After an hour of silence with Bansai, Takechi showed up in the kitchen, saving Matako from that awkward situation.

“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” Takechi asked. He sat on one of the empty chairs next to Bansai and Matako.

“Right now all the JC and the JS girls should be going to school… How I miss that times…” Takechi lamented.

“Senpai, stop that. I don’t wanna hear your pedophile talk right in the morning,” Matako complained.

“I’m not a pedophile, I’m a feminist.”

Bansai paid them no mind. He was more interested in the music that left his headphones.

“By the way, did anyone see Shinsuke-sama?” Matako asked.

He was the person she wanted to see the most.

“Shinsuke?” Bansai repeated, suddenly showing interest in the conversation. “Speaking of which, I went to his room to call him but he was not there.”

“What? Really?”

If Shinsuke wasn’t in his room, where else could him be?

“Maybe he left to buy yakult.” Takechi suggested.

“What? No! He wouldn’t take so long to buy yakult.”

Matako couldn’t accept that idea. It was too stupid.

Suddenly, Bansai got up. Takechi and Matako stared at him.

“I am going to look for Shinsuke,” he said.

And so, Bansai looked through all ship for Shinsuke. But the more he searched the more he was convinced that he wasn’t on board.

He was losing hope when he saw it. No, it wasn’t Shinsuke. It was a cat.

_ Why is there a cat on Kiheitai’s ship? _

Confused, Bansai called Matako and Takechi to see it.

The cat seemed frightened or maybe irritated, snarling to everyone who watched it. It was obvious that it didn’t like people.

“Why is there a cat here…?” Matako asked. 

No one in the Kiheitai had pets. He probably was just a stray cat. But that didn’t explain how it got on board of Kiheitai’s ship.

“Wait!” Matako shouted noticing something weird about the cat. “Look again, Bansai-senpai!”

Looking closer, Bansai could see the cat had an eye missing. Coincidentally, the left eye.

“It can’t be…” Bansai muttered in disbelief.

“Considering his disappearance, I think we can assume that this is not a cat, but Shinsuke-dono,” Takechi concluded.

“Shinsuke-sama!!” Matako screamed,  running to the cat. “Why did you have to turn into a cat?!”

She took him in her arms and hugged him, feeling sorry for his state. The cat, annoyed by the confusion, scratched her. 

“Ah!” Matako exclaimed.

The cat jumped from her arms.

Bansai decided he should be the next one to try to get closer to Shinsuke. Walking slowly so the cat wouldn’t run away, he sat on the floor and called the cat by his name.

“Shinsuke.”

The cat got curious. He stopped in front of Bansai looking calmer. Carefully, Bansai touched his head and petted him. The cat purred.

“That’s not fair! I wanna pet Shinsuke-sama too!” Matako cried.

The cat paid her no mind.

“I don’t know how it happened, but Shinsuke is still getting used to being a cat, I daresay,” Bansai said trying to comfort Matako. “Give him time, I daresay it’s being hard for him.”

“Meow,” The cat complained when Bansai stopped touching him. He wanted to be more petted.

Bansai went back to caressing him, slowly touching his fur.

The cat moved his head, showing a peaceful expression while purring. He rubbed himself on Bansai’s leg until he got tired and jumped onto his lap.

“But what are we going to do, Senpai?!” Matako asked. She was nervous and feeling useless. “Is there no way to make Shinsuke-sama go back to normal?!”

“The only thing we can do is wait,” Takechi said, joining the discussion. “If he can turn into a cat, then I’m sure he can turn into a human again, too.”

He decided to leave the place and started walking backwards to Bansai.

“Let’s go, Matako-san. It’s better to trust Bansai-dono for now.”

Matako sighed.

“Yes…” she said, feeling defeated. “See you, Shinsuke-sama…”

Bansai never had a cat or any pet but he had always liked them. In truth, Bansai had always liked animals in general, but he prefered to look them from afar. It was like that with people too. Ever since he was a child he knew he shouldn’t trust anyone. Live only by and for himself. But then he met Shinsuke.

Shinsuke had something that attracted people but they didn’t know what or why.

Bansai was different. He  _ knew _ . He could see something normal people couldn’t. He  _ heard _ . Shinsuke’s cacophonic, loud, painful and yet elegant, delightful and unique song.

It was Bansai’s favorite song. And it was what made him fall in love with him. His life wasn’t his anymore. It belonged to Shinsuke.  _ He _ belonged to Shinsuke.

Maybe because of the shock, but Shinsuke’s song didn’t sound the same.

No. That wasn’t right.

“You are not Shinsuke, are you?” Bansai asked the cat while caressing it.

The cat meowed.

“But you two are really alike, I daresay. Isn’t that right, Kosugi?”

Bansai smiled.

He took the cat, Kosugi, to his bedroom and went to the kitchen to get him water and food.

When he came back Kosugi was quiet on his bed.

“Are you sleepy?” Bansai asked, leaving a bowl of water and another of fish next to his bed.

The cat left the bed to eat.

Bansai simply watched with a smile on his face.

It was true that Kosugi made him think of Shinsuke—he wouldn’t had given him that name if they weren’t similar. And it wasn’t just their missing eyes but also their behavior. Kosugi liked being left alone, but he wasn’t bad. 

Still, what Bansai wondered wasn’t that. There was just one thing on his mind.  _ Would Shinsuke let me pet him? _

No, of course he wouldn’t. And that was a pity, because Shinsuke was as cute as the cat, Bansai thought.

Interrupting his thoughts about Shinsuke, Bansai heard the bed creak.

Looking for the cause of the noise he looked around his bedroom but couldn’t believe what was in front of him.

Kosugi, the small black cat wasn’t small anymore.

It had grown up so much it was almost Bansai’s height. And he didn’t know what to do. He  _ couldn’t _ do anything.

“I see. So this is your real form.”

Well, whatever. It was still cute.

Bansai showed Kosugi his hand and the cat lowered his head following it. He caressed it.

“How should I explain this to the Kiheitai,” Bansai asked himself.

For the time being, he would take the bowls back to the kitchen. Kosugi had finished eating and Bansai didn’t want to leave his bedroom dirty.

“Wait a minute,” Bansai asked Kosugi. He stopped touching it so he could gather the bowls.

He left his bedroom hoping that his bed wouldn’t break with Kosugi’s weight.

When he finished washing the bowls and left the kitchen, Bansai heard voices and being curious, he changed his path.

“Shinsuke-sama!” Matako shouted.

Getting closer to them, Bansai could see that Shinsuke had came back. Matako and Takechi were talking to him, filling him with questions.

“I’m so happy you are normal again!” Matako said, in tears.

“Normal? What are you talking about?” Shinsuke asked, confused.

He had no idea what Matako was talking about.

“That cat is not Shinsuke,” Bansai said, interrupting the talk. “Its name is Kosugi.”

“Kosugi?” Takechi repeated. Realizing the meaning of the name, he laughed.

“Do you mean ‘Takasugi’ but with ‘Ko’, kanji for ‘small’ instead of ‘Taka’, ‘high’?”

“Yes, it’s a lovely name, isn’t it?”

Takechi couldn’t stop laughing. Bansai was serious, Shinsuke was annoyed, and Matako, confused.

“If that cat isn’t Shinsuke-sama, then where have you been?” Matako asked.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Shinsuke said showing the shopping bags on his arms. “I was buying yakult.”

Matako sighed, regretting having open her mouth.

“Well, the mystery is solved,” Takechi said. He knew the cat wasn’t Shinsuke, but he thought it would be funny if they believed it was. Matako was the only one who was fooled. “Now we have to think about what to do with the cat.”

“I’m against having a cat on Kiheitai’s ship,” Shinsuke said, tired. He just wanted to put an end to that issue and go back to his bedroom. “We can’t take care of it. Bansai, get rid of it.”

“No.”

Shinsuke got speechless for being challenged by Bansai. He raised his eyebrows. Notting his irritation, Bansai corrected himself.

“I will take care of it. You will not have to worry, I daresay.”

Shinsuke kept quiet, reviewing his options.

“... Fine,” Shinsuke said. 

He was tired of that useless discussion.  _ Let Bansai do whatever he wants. It’s his problem. _

“And?” Shinsuke impatiently asked. “Where is the cat?”

Bansai swallowed hard.

“I will show you it.”

Shinsuke, Matako and Takechi followed Bansai to his bedroom entering it together with him.

Lying on Bansai’s bed was Kosugi. The big black cat.

Matako screamed.

“Bansai…” Shinsuke muttered after deeply sighing. “What the hell is this?”

“ _ This _ is Kosugi,” Bansai said like there was no big deal in having an enormous cat in his bedroom.

“What happened to it, Bansai?” Takechi asked. It wasn’t like that before. How did it become so big? He was shocked.

“This is its real form, I daresay. Even though I suspect it can change sizes whenever it wants.”

“Bansai…” Shinsuke tried to speak but the words didn’t leave his mouth. He didn’t have anything to say. That was ridiculous and Bansai should had known it. But he trusted his judgment so he didn’t know what to do.

“I promise I will take good care of it.”

Everyone kept quiet.

Shinsuke didn’t know why Bansai insisted on having that cat. He was curious and at the same time, worried. Not because he thought Bansai couldn’t handle it, he was sure he could, but he was afraid he would get too attached to it. The cat would only give them trouble.

“You are responsible for it, then. I won’t get involved.” 

Was what Shinsuke said before leaving Bansai’s bedroom. Matako and Takechi left after him.

Bansai smiled.

He really loved that stubborn and proud creature. And he didn’t mean the cat.

Later that day, Bansai met Shinsuke again. And, even though he was still angry and didn’t try to hide it, Shinsuke spent some time by his side, with Kosugi watching them. The commander of the Kiheitai and the cat seemed to dislike each other (although they were just jealous of the attention Bansai gave them) but Bansai pretended he didn’t notice. He couldn’t believe it either. Was Shinsuke really jealous of a cat?

They drank when the night came and chatted until Shinsuke fell asleep, using Bansai’s shoulder as a pillow. Kosugi did the same and so, there was two creatures sleeping on his shoulders. The position he was in was uncomfortable, but he didn’t seem to mind. He liked it.

Then, carefully moving his hand so he wouldn’t bother Shinsuke, his dream of petting him came true. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you are wondering, I got the title by googling "cat quotes" LMAO. Then, I changed it to make more sense for them. I planned to write more, but tbh I'm too tired, I'm sorry.


End file.
